CB360 Composite National Rankings #9 (4/11/18)

The second April update to CB360’s exclusive Composite National Rankings (CNR) Top–50 – tabulated after games played on April 11 – shows Florida still entrenched in the top position and Stanford No. 2, while Arkansas has bumped up from 5th to 3rd, barely ahead of current No. 4 Texas Tech. The balance of the current top-10 includes: Ole Miss, Clemson, NC State, Oregon State, East Carolina and Florida State

During the turbulent 2018 season, East Carolina last week became the 18th different team to sit among the CB360 Composite top-10 at some point this season, with those teams including the current top-10 along with TCU (now not even in the top-50), Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Auburn.

With UConn and UCF moving up, the American Athletic Conference now features five teams in the CB360 Composite Top-50, trailing only the SEC (11) and ACC (7) and ahead of such leagues as the Pac-12 and Big Ten (each have four, with only three Big 12 teams in the current top-50). The other AAC teams currently in the top-50 include ECU, [23] Wichita State and [41] South Florida.

(Note – plenty of notes and breakdown lists included on this release page, including the full top-50 (plus each teams weekly position), lists of teams that have fallen out of the top-50 each week, links to the 20 elements currently in the CNR formula; scroll down … )

The CNR now features 20 different elements in the formula, reflecting the use of more computerized ratings that in some cases results in certain teams being slotted lower than their standing within the “human” polls.

NC State (#11 last week) has returned to the current top-10, with Auburn taking a major tumble out of the top-10 (10th to 20th).

• Top-10/Top-16:– The SEC and ACC each account for three of the CNR current top-10, followed by two teams from the Pac-12, plus the Big 12’s Texas Tech and the AAC’s East Carolina. Expanding out to the current top-16 (i.e. forecasted NCAA Regional top seeds/hosts), the breakdown includes: 6 SEC, 4 ACC, 3 Pac-12, 1 Big 12, 1 American Athletic Conf. and 1 Big Ten.

• Coming & Going– Five teams have returned this week to the CNR Top–50: [40] Georgia Tech [45], UConn, [46] Northeastern, [48] South Alabama & [50] UCF … while Mercer, Nevada, San Diego State, California and Oregon all have slipped outside the Top–50 in the current update … TCU (preseason #5) had been in the CNR Top–50 all season, prior to last week’s update … one week earlier, UVa (preseason #16) fell out of the CNR Top–50.

• Top-10 Regulars – Only three teams have been in the CNR Top–10 all season: Florida (1-2-3-4-8-7-1-1-1), Texas Tech (3-3-2-1-1-6-4-3-4) and Oregon State (2-1-1-2-2-1-5-7-8) … with Texas Tech now being the only team 6th or higher all season in the CB360 Composite Rankings.

• Quick Climbers – Clemson was #18 in the preseason CNR but has climbed as high as #4 (now #6) … Ole Miss similarly vaulted from #20 to its current #5 (#2 a couple weeks ago) while Auburn’s strong start has boosted the Tigers from #36 in the preseason CNR to a top-20 position for each of the past six weeks (recently #10). NC State opened the season at #24 in the CNR but now has risen all the way to #7. And #9 East Carolina is another recent top-10 newcomer, after not even being in the CB360 preseason top-50.

• That’s Why They Play The Games – 20 of the teams in the current CNR Top–50 were not in the preseason Top–50, most notably current #9 East Carolina along with [13] Georgia, [23] Wichita State and [26] Missouri. There are eight other current top-40 teams that were not among the CNR preseason Top–50: [25] Tennessee Tech, [27] Florida Atlantic, [34] Illinois, [35] Alabama, [36] Creighton, [37] UNLV, [38] Troy & [39] Louisiana tech … six other teams currently in the 41-50 range likewise were not CNR preseason Top–50 squads: [41] South Florida, [42] FGCU, [42] Minnesota [44] Stetson, [45] UConn, [46] Northeastern, [47] Charleston & [49] Ohio State.

COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA: Teams receive points based on their standings in each poll/rating/projection (60 pts for #1; 59 for #2, etc.). For polls involving voting points (coaches and CB) and the various RPI-type ratings, the CNR adjusts to reward teams that have larger margins in the voting/point totals (whereas two teams with nearly the same voting-point total will be closer in the CNR allotment for that poll). Note that strength-of-schedule typically is factored into RPI formulations … thus the actual SOS numbers only are used early in the season (SOS are not used in the CNR when RPI already are in the mix). For the NCAA field projections, teams are awarded CNR points based on their respective seedings, “last in” and “last out,” etc.

The polls/ratings/projections are averaged, with 40 points typically then added to each total in order to yield the 100-point benchmark. Early in the season (projected SOS; and preseason conference coaches polls) and late in the season (final-10 games), a maximum bonus/penalty of 2.0 (SOS & conf. poll) or 0.5 points (final-10) is factored into the formula (in that case, 38.0, or 39.5, rather than 40, is added to the poll/rating/projection avg.).
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